Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE NEW RAILROAD, by FRIEDRICH ADOLF AXEL DETLEV VON LILIENCRON


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE NEW RAILROAD, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The skull cries out: 'I'm an ambassador
Last Line: By the first whistle of the new express.
Alternate Author Name(s): Liliencron, Detlev Von
Subject(s): Railroads; Railways; Trains


THE skull cries out: "I'm an ambassador,
I am a baron, and 'twas I that made
The treaty between Germany and Holland.
Who's this that shakes my marble casket so?
Who breaks the lid? Is't Resurrection Day?
The commonest clodhoppers, a pack of slaves
Have torn away the ribbon from my breast,
The brave blue Order of the Elephant.
Besides, the picture of my gracious master,
Of Frederick the Fifth, that noble king!
Painted on ivory, carried next my heart,
And given me by himself in careless hour,—
They're stealing that from me, the jailbird crew!"

But none the less for that the railroad gang
(The vault being now officially condemned)
Laugh at the outcry of the ancient skull.
One of them gives the royal miniature
To Pock-faced Lizzie of the camp saloon
Who deals in drink and lodging for the night.
Then, decorated with the picture, she
Appears on Sunday at the navvies' ball.

The skull cries out: "I'm an ambassador,
The treaty between Germany and Holland."
I am a baron, and 'twas I that made
That doesn't help him, for the drunken crowd
Raise him aloft upon the tail-board plank
Snatched from a sand-cart as it rumbles past,
Later he serves them for a game of ball.

The skull cries out: "I'm an ambassador,
I am a baron, and 'twas I that made
The treaty between Germany and Holland."
That doesn't help him. When at last they tire
They throw him to a dead cat in the dirt.

The skull cries out: "I'm an ambassador,
I am a baron, and 'twas I that made
The treaty between Germany and Holland."
That doesn't help him, for his voice is drowned
By the first whistle of the new express.





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